All I Want is to Not be Alone by Daniel R Fierst

To Timothy Baker, survival isn’t luck—it’s logic: prepare for the worst, anticipate every danger, and above all else stay alive. It’s worked for two months as he’s fortified himself in his childhood home. But when a routine supply run collapses into chaos, and the undead close in, Timothy is forced to abandon his barricaded sanctuary.

His only hope? Heading north, toward whispers of safety in the frozen wilds of Canada.

The journey is anything but safe. Timothy's road from his suburban home to the heart of zombie-ravaged cities is plagued by danger—both external and within. As he documents his descent into isolation through intimate journal entries, half-shattered memories, and fleeting digital connections, Timothy must reconcile the walls he’s built around himself with the growing ache for connection.

With winter tightening its icy grip and humanity slipping further from his grasp, Timothy faces the ultimate test of survival: Can he adapt to the unexpected? And more importantly—can he make it through without someone by his side?

All I Want Is To Not Be Alone is a haunting tale of resilience and humanity’s deepest fear: not the undead, but being truly alone.

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PRE-READING

Zombie survival stories have a fairly well-established set of rules by now, so I'm always interested when an author changes the formula. All I Want Is To Not Be Alone caught my attention because Timothy isn't simply hiding from zombies and hoping they go away. He has spent months working out exactly how these particular zombies behave — and how he can use that knowledge to stay alive.

POST-READING

Timothy is alone for much of the story, and that makes his survival methods particularly interesting. He develops routines, keeps notebooks, talks to the images on strangers' phones and finds ways to create the illusion of connection when there isn't another human being around.

The zombies are also refreshingly different. They are primarily drawn by sound, and once they decide something is worth pursuing, they are remarkably tenacious. Timothy therefore spends a lot of time thinking about where he can move safely, using high points whenever possible and setting up noisemakers that he can trigger to draw a horde away when necessary.

He is a clever protagonist, and I can confidently say he would do considerably better in the zombie apocalypse than I would.

There is also a sequence involving a canal that is genuinely horrifying. The author has clearly thought through how this world works, and that careful attention to the practical details makes the danger feel much more immediate.

As I expected

I expected a survival story, and that's exactly what this is: careful planning, constant risk assessment and a protagonist who knows that one mistake can be fatal.

What I wasn't expecting was quite how much of the story would be about Timothy's attempts to maintain some form of connection while being physically alone. The notebooks, journal entries and strange little digital connections give the story an emotional thread alongside the practical survivalism.

I was surprised by

The language.

There are moments when the prose becomes quite flowery, which isn't necessarily what I expect from a zombie horror. It's not excessive, but it caught my attention because it gives some scenes a slightly different texture from the usual stripped-back survival narrative.

And then there is the ending.

I hated it.

Cheerfully, I mean.

It's very open. There may well be another volume planned, and I can see why the door has been left open, but as a reader I wanted a little more resolution here. The story has taken Timothy through so much, and by the end I wanted something to feel properly settled rather than simply wondering whether this is where the next book will pick up.

RECOMMENDATIONS

If you enjoy zombie fiction where the survival mechanics matter as much as the monsters, try The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey. For TV, The Last of Us is an obvious recommendation for another story where survival is important but the human need for connection is just as significant.

MUSIC PAIRING

“Alone” — Heart

Because sometimes the obvious answer is the correct one.

VIBE CHECK

Colour palette: Winter grey, dirty white, dark green and the fading colours of abandoned suburban streets.

Soundtrack: Footsteps. Wind. The creak of an old building. A distant noise that absolutely should not be there. And then, very carefully, silence.

Season: Deep winter.

Mood: Tense, lonely, methodical, increasingly desperate.

Scent: Cold air, damp concrete, stale houses — and, unfortunately, the smell of zombies. Timothy notices it often enough that it has become part of the survival landscape.

Texture: Cold metal, worn notebooks, frozen ground, rough concrete and the smooth glass of a phone screen showing a face that isn't actually there.

TAROT CARD PULLED

Seven of Wands

The Seven of Wands is about holding your ground when you're under pressure. It is vigilance, determination and refusing to give up the position you've fought to establish.

That feels very Timothy. He is constantly assessing his surroundings, anticipating danger and making careful movements because he knows that the slightest mistake could put him in a very bad position. Survival isn't about being fearless. It's about staying alert and holding on anyway.

✦ THE TRUE QUESTION ✦

How long can you survive alone before survival stops being enough?

All I Want Is To Not Be Alone publishes on 15 October 2026. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.